The present disclosure relates to hangers and methods of hanging items on structures. Traditionally, wreaths and other decorations have been hung from doors and other surfaces using nails, screws, screw-in hooks, or other fasteners. These fasteners tend to permanently deface the door or structure, and people generally prefer to avoid defacing doors and other structures when hanging decorations and other objects.
Various designs have been developed to avoid permanently defacing doors when hanging decorations. For example, some designs involve hooks fastened to doors with non-marring fasteners, adhesives, magnetic materials, and suction cups. Examples of such designs are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. D360,355, D408,725, and 6,325,344, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
However, these designs are not always entirely satisfactory due to the large and heavy nature of objects that are often hung, such as wreaths. Further, frequently opening and closing a door tends to cause these types of hooks to fall off the door over time. Moreover, abruptly opening or closing the door can cause the hook to fall off the door as well.
Other designs utilizing over-the-door hooks have been developed to hang objects such as wreaths and decorations on doors. Examples of these designs are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,413,297, 5,535,971, 5,553,823, 5,607,131, 6,302,365, and 6,311851, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. These types of hooks or hangers allow for heavier and larger items, but are limited in certain ways due to the fact that they typically require relatively large hooks.
The limitations include an inability to close a door when using a thick hook and marring the door when the door is able to close. The thicker hooks, especially those made of plastic, but also some metal ones, do not allow the door to close. This is especially true in newer doors that have a smaller distance between the top of the door and the door frame, as well as when there is tight fitting weather stripping. When the door is able to close despite the thick hook, the top of the hook (the portion that is over the door) often scratches or mars the door frame as the door is opened and closed.
Other over-the-door hanger or hook designs include those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,267,257; 6,575,416; 6,854,610; 6,857,608; 7,234,671; 7,185,864, 7,207,088, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. However, these designs also tend to mar the frame of a door when used to hang objects.
One product attempting to address the door closing and door frame marring issues is sold under the trade name Clever Hanger (www.cleverhanger.com, patent status unknown). This device uses an “L” shaped metal bracket and a flexible monofilament line to hang a wreath on the top edge of the door. However, this product still has the potential to mar the door frame because it requires that metal be placed between the top of the door and the door frame. This product also fails to provide a hook to which a wreath may be attached. Instead, a user must tie the line to the wreath, which is inconvenient for the user and does not allow for easily changing from one decoration to another.